Three footballers were paid cash by Far Eastern businessmen as part of a conspiracy to fix non-league matches, a court heard.

Michael Boateng, Hakeen Adelakun and Moses Swaibu were all playing in the Conference South when the offences allegedly took place last November.

It is claimed the trio conspired with Singapore-based Chann Sankaran, 33, and Krishna Ganeshan, 43, to alter the results of games .

Birmingham Crown Court was told Swaibu, 24, was paid £2,446 and Whitehawk FC pair Boateng and Adelakun, both 22, each received £367.

Jurors heard the three footballers were “willing recruits” in the conspiracy - which was described as a “Goldilocks scenario”.

Prosecutor Robert Davies said in lower leagues “investors use the minimum level of bribe to get the maximum betting return”.

“The players get paid a lot less than the footballers in the Premier League, Division One and even Division Two,” he added.

"There’s far less scrutiny of what occurs in those matches.”

He said Sankaran and Ganeshan travelled from Singapore “to engineer the results they need to make money either on betting in the UK or the Far East.”

“They’ve come across to the UK with a plan to find lower league players willing to take a bribe or encourage other players to do so,” he said.

Mr Davies told the jury that Boateng, Adelakun and Swaibu had “an important role” in recruiting other players to take bribes.

The alleged offences were brought to light by an undercover probe into football corruption which was later taken over by the National Crime Agency.

Investigators using false names developed a relationship with Sankaran, who allegedly introduced them to a middleman who cannot be named for legal reasons.

That man then put them in touch with Boateng, Adelakun and Swaibu, the court heard.

Mr Davies read out text messages between Sankaran and the middleman in which they allegedly discussed fees for match-fixing.

In one message, Sankaran is alleged to have written: “My boss said for the players he can pay 20,000 euros (£16,300) and for you, 5,000 euros (£4,075) because there’s only five players.”

Mr Davies said the middleman’s response showed “concerns about the price”, when he sent back a text which read: “From 30,000 euros to 20,000 euros - that’s not how I see it.”

Jurors heard a recording of a conversation between Sankaran and an undercover NCA officer after the pair met in Manchester last November.

Asking what teams Sankaran had under his control, he replied: “One is Bromley and one is Whitehawk.”

The undercover officer said: “I’ve never heard of them, can you even get a bet on them?

“I thought it was going to be Halifax - I’m not being funny, but I don’t think you can get £60,000 worth of bets on those teams.”

Sankaran’s response was: “Yes you can, I’ve done this before.”

Mr Davies said the conspiracy focused its first efforts on a game involving Brighton-based Whitehawk FC in which Sankaran wanted them to lose 3-0.

In the event, the match was not fixed after the players failed to meet - as previously agreed - with the men posing as the investors, the court heard.

Boateng, from Croydon, Adelakun, from Thornton Heath and Swaibu, from Bermondsey, deny accepting financial incentives for the purpose of causing them to act improperly in their jobs as professional footballers.

Sankaran, from Hastings, East Sussex, and Ganeshan, from Singapore, are both accused of conspiracy to commit bribery, and three further counts of bribery by offering the players cash, and including accepting 60,000 euros (£48,900) with the intention of using that money to induce professional footballers to act improperly.